Once upon a Christmas
by hinakyrie
Summary: Taking place after the Epilogue of "We Should Have Eloped." Christmas one shot that will hopefully put a smile on your face. Happy holidays!


Disclaimer: In case you were wondering, I don't own _Bleach_ or any of its characters _._

Once Upon a Christmas

Snow was falling, which put Momo in an extremely good mood. The approaching reiatsu was the metaphorical icing on the cake. The captain tightened her bun and continued washing the dishes, humming as she worked.

She turned around and her smile brightened as her husband tripped in through the door, gripping about how Kaido shouldn't leave so much stuff lying around. Normally, the house wasn't quite this disorganized, but their son had trashed the place while trying and miserably failing to cure his boredom. He and his sister had been together for twenty-five years, and this was the longest they had ever been apart. Momo had missed having her children together; even with Kaido's shenanigans the house had been too quiet the past couple of weeks. Toshiro threw the bags they'd brought on the mission on the floor, rolling his eyes, rubbing his toes.

"Mom, the world of the living is wonderful! They have the best TV stations ever, and you should see the vending machines!" sputtered her daughter, dancing in behind her father. Her teal eyes sparkled, none of her father's icy fierceness apparent at all. Momo noted her hair was pulled back and secured with a new scarlet ribbon.

"Is that right? What else was interesting?"

The girl flashed a mischievous wink at Toshiro, which made her mother _very_ nervous. "I'll tell you later. Where's Kaido?"

"Out back"

"Seems like she had a good time. How's Ichigo?" she asked as Momoka hurried outside, yelling for her partner in crime.

"Annoying as ever," he smirked walking over, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing the back of her head. "The house was its usual chaotic mess. Shurei's engaged and pursuing her doctorate—she's doing clinical work with her dad. Kenshin is a loud, first year college student who has no clue what he wants to do but chase hollows. Ririn's still in high school."

True, Ichigo was an even more unique situation than her and Toshiro. Yes, with their parent's background, Ichigo's children would live longer than most humans; however, they would still hit adolescence and adulthood at the same time as everyone else in the world of the living and had to financially support themselves. Plus, the majority of them had spiritual pressure and trained to improve their abilities on top of their other obligations. At first, the sou-taicho had protested about such formal training at their age, but he'd quickly backed down when Ichigo pointed out he'd been thrown into this world when he was in high school and wanted his children prepared.

Her own children's spiritual pressures had awakened only ten years after their birth, but they still had at least a decade before their parents felt comfortable with them joining the academy. While they would never admit it to her face, she knew that sometimes the wait bothered them. After all, they had inherited a large amount of their father's overachieving nature. It didn't help there were very few children their age, especially ones showing signs of spiritual pressure, they could connect with. Granted, Yachiru was still as much of a childish spaz as ever, but the captain of ice tried to limit them having contact with Kenpachi. "Did Momoka feel out of place?"

He tilted his head and thought about it. "I don't think so. Ichigo took her though a workout one day, and Orihime gave her some new exercises she said you could help her tweak. Orihime says that Shurei is sensitive to spiritual pressure but can't see anything from this dimension. Momoka spent a large amount of the time with her. Plus, that ribbon was from Kenshin; I didn't buy it for her."

"Oh, I wondered if that was from you or not. I'm not sure if I'm ready for her and boys."

"They're young; it's nothing serious."

"We were young and not serious at one point," she responded, raising an eyebrow.

He smiled, his irises pulsing. "True, I missed you."

"I missed you too, Anata," she whispered leaning back into him.

"If it makes you feel any better, I told him that if he messed with her too much, I'd freeze him. Ichigo said he'd give him a good thrashing too."

"That _does_ make me feel better. Did you take her on any field work?"

"We went out for one afternoon. She saw her first hollow and didn't panic."

Momo's head swiveled around, questions in her eyes.

"No, Love, of course I didn't let her fight it. She stood with Orihime, behind the barrier."

A tap on the window shifted both of their attentions. Kensin, black mess of hair blowing in the wind, was motioning for them to come outside.

"What have they managed to do already?" she laughed, throwing her dish towel on the counter as she grabbed another shawl to throw over her shoulders.

"Not sure," he said with a rare twinkle in his eyes, "but it's probably interesting."

As they walked outside, snowflakes tickled her hair and the chilly air caressed her face. Expecting some sort of destruction when her children came into view, her jaw dropped at what she saw instead. Toshiro even gave a whistle of admiration, which was a miracle in itself. One of the trees in the front yard was covered in twinkling, flaming tapers, which were glowing gold, purple, and a dark magenta pink. Sparkly ice crystals draped systemically and elegantly throughout the tree, reflecting the light from the columns of flames. Miniature ice dragon figures also rested among the limbs.

"What is this?" Momo asked, absolutely amazed the beauty and depth of her children's abilities.

"It's a Christmas tree, Mother," replied her daughter. "It's a very popular holiday in the world of the living, a holiday where people give gifts, decorate Christmas trees, bake cookies, and come together with their families. It's on December 25th every year, so since we were there Ichigo took us to several Christmas parties."

She looked at her husband in open amazement. "He convinced _you_ to go to parties. How did he blackmail you into doing that?"

"No blackmail, but going to parties meant that I had to eat much less of Orihime's cooking than usual."

"I knew something was in it for you," she grinned.

"I resent that assumption," grumbled her husband. "Anyway, how did you get the lights to work like that, Momoka?"

"It's a basic kido Orihime showed me. However, to keep the lights like that takes a consistent output of energy, so I won't be able to keep this up for more than a couple of hours."

"The dragons are a more physical sign of a pre-emerging shikai, so they work the same way," inputted their son, determined not to be outdone by his sister.

"You two did well," said their father with approval, slightly concerned about how refined they already were becoming using their spiritual pressures. "Now, I _might_ have brought you your own Christmas presents, but they're inside one of my bags."

The two children looked at each other, eyes full of excitement, feet shuffling as they waited for permission to dig through their strict father's personal belongings.

He smiled. "Well, you won't find them standing out here."

"I'll beat you inside, Momoka, you slow poke!"

"In your dreams, Kaido," she vowed, throwing a snowball at him and rushing back towards the house.

Momo laughed and moved to go after them, but looked curiously at her husband as he pulled her back.

"Wait a second," he whispered, pulling out a small package from under his captain haori. His stormy, electrifying eyes glimmered eerily under the tree lights. "Merry Christmas, Momo Hitsugaya."

Eyes misty, Momo tore off the paper and ribbon. Inside was a necklace. Attached to the silver chain was a dragon holding a rose. The whole thing was encrusted with diamonds.

"Shiro, I love it! But, this's way too nice!"

"We carry around priceless gemstones every day," he smirked.

She shrugged, acknowledging the validity of that statement.

"Just don't wear it when you're sparring or on a mission. You deserve it, Bakka, so don't try and talk me out of giving it to you. Also, don't remind Rangiku about the Christmas gift thing. As much as Hisagi loves her, after her last shopping spree, he's going to be a little short on cash. I saw her receipts, and her monthly salary won't cover it."

She laughed, not surprised. "Right, I understand. Same rule applies for Senna. If she knows about this, she'll force Hanaterou to make her a limitless supply of Christmas cookies."

"Fair point," he agreed, fastening the necklace on his wife's pale, thin neck, drinking in her every detail.

She blushed at his look and her reflection off of the tree's icicles. "Thank you so much." Her chocolate irises widened, and she threw her hands up worriedly in the air. "Wait, I don't have anything for you! This whole Christmas thing is new to me."

Her husband of many, many years chuckled, leaned forward, and hugged her tenderly. He was several inches taller than her now. The red scarf he was wearing brushed her cheeks. "You're already my gift. You're more beautiful than ever, and you've given me two brilliant children. Your smile is what lights up my life, and your courage and heart keeps me strong. Don't work yourself into a frenzy—I don't want any other gift."

"Bakka, for being the captain of ice, how come you can say the sweetest things?" she whispered, tears of gratitude dripping down her cheeks. "Anyway, there's so much of you in those children, more than you even realize. Those two were your gifts to me, not my gifts to you."

"There's more of you in them than you know as well, Love."

"Merry Christmas, Shiro."

"Merry Christmas, Momo."

"Oh, there's something else in the bottom of the box." She held up a weird type of leaf. "What's this?"

"Mistletoe," he answered, a devilish twinkle in his eye as he leaned in and kissed her.

-hinakyrie

Well, I meant to get this out before Christmas, so sorry it's a tad late. This continues several years after the epilogue from the prequel story _We Should Have Eloped._ Check it out!


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